New ISKRA for me tomorrow

leica M2 fan

leica M2 fan

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Hope to receive new, for me, Iskra from Yuri. Am really anxious to run it through its paces. All three FSU cameras I have gotten from Yuri have been outstanding , just as described. Any suggestions on what film to try?
 
Acros 100, Ilford Pan F 50, good luck and congrats!

Todd
 
Good luck, I'm sure you'll really enjoy the camera.

As for film, in B+W you might like to try Efke 25 or 100, Delta 100 or Acros. I develop these in Rodinal. I also use quite a bit of TriX 400 shot at EI1000 when dev'ed in Diafine. This is a really nice combination.

For the first roll though, I'd suggest Provia 100/400 - you'll get to see the lens qualities, plus it is a good way of seeing if the camera (shutter) is performing as it should. It's much easier to interpret a positive.
 
I use my Iskras a lot, mostly for B&W. The lens is outstanding, it has a way of not-flaring that is rather exceptional : it loses some local contrast and "blooms" but keeps excellent contrast everywhere else, it's really amazing and I now /look/ to shoot backlit just to get that effect :D
In any case, if your Iskra work, treasure it ! I've got plenty of images in my Flikr page (see signature)

Did this one saturday: Iskra, TMax 100 in Ilfotec DDX 1+9
iskra-tmax100-609.jpg
 
Wow

Wow

That is a fantastic shot. I was totally blown away by the sharpness of the lens! If I can get anything anywhere nearly as good as this I will be ecstatic.
This is truly a wonderful photo, thank you so much.
 
I liked Kodak Portra 160VC for awhile (see below). Now I'm using Fuji Astia 100F for awhile. I ordered a 5 pack of Kodak Portra 800 to tryout. Too many new film options.:) I don't have time for digital:D Regards.
 

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You know.. I bought me one of them iskra 2's from a forum member here. It is such a cool camera, especially when you put a canon digital neck strap on it :D

The problem is, I now have nearly 2 dozen rolls of developed 120 negatives just sitting around. I can't get them printed cost-effectivley, and the only way I got them into my computer was by taking pictures of them with my digital camera :eek: So the camera's been sitting on the shelf for the last few months.

Don't make the same mistake I made, and make sure you know what you plan on doing with the results ;) your own darkroom, have a nearby lab that'll print them, or a scanner.
 
Jano- If you are down San Diego way, go to Gaslamp Photo on Market Street, next to Hooter's (stop there and get chicken wings and a beer while your negatives are developed). They will also scan to CD for you, that takes longer.

Their prices for scan and cut, without prints, is very good. I think the scan to CD was also a good value.

They are a photo studio that keeps the bottom line happy by developing for other photographers.
 
jano said:
You know.. I bought me one of them iskra 2's from a forum member here. It is such a cool camera, especially when you put a canon digital neck strap on it :D

The problem is, I now have nearly 2 dozen rolls of developed 120 negatives just sitting around. I can't get them printed cost-effectivley, and the only way I got them into my computer was by taking pictures of them with my digital camera :eek: So the camera's been sitting on the shelf for the last few months.

Don't make the same mistake I made, and make sure you know what you plan on doing with the results ;) your own darkroom, have a nearby lab that'll print them, or a scanner.
Click to expand...

Hi Jano, is your Iskra 2 for sale now?:)
 
Affordable and convenient output, I mean prints, is an issue when shooting medium format. Local mini-labs that are located in a corporate chain retail outlet are not really set up for low volume work.

Ideally, it would be nice to have a dedicated medium format film scanner, but that isn't going to be affordable.

For medium format color negs and positives I get by with a flat bed scanner. I started with a Canon 8400F and switched over to a used Epson 4870. 2400 dpi seems to be plenty of resolution for my 5x7 and 8x10 prints. By the way, that $100 Canon did a reasonable enough job at 1600 dpi.

That said, scanning for me is about exciting as watching paint dry.

I must say that my acquisition of my Ansco Super Speedex, (a.k.a. Agfa Super Isolette, the Iskra's parent ), led to my building a small urban guerrilla darkroom for B/W. That was four years ago and the gear has more than paid for itself.
 
I also use a flatbed for my medium format negatives. I've been using the epson 3170. It does well enough for my needs.
 
I scan the negs at 4800dpi using an Epson 4990, do the tone corrections (and noise ninja, but rather rarely), reduce to 2400dpi and do some light sharpening.

I've documented my photoshop postprocessing there : http://oomz.net/mf/viewtopic.php?id=1675
It's for a 135 image, but I do exactly the same for 120...

The 6x6 image at 2400dpi is still 5000x5000 pixels, with pixel sized details :D go Iskra ! :D
 
Guys, thanks for the tips, but I've been through this before. Sorry, leica_m2_fan for almost hijacking your thread :p

My intentions were to simply give you a heads up that hopefully you know what you'll do with the negatives and positives ;) And congrats again, it's a fun camera! I'd also recommend Acros 100.

However.. I'd also recommend you try the fuji 800z color print film ("new" NPZ). I tried a roll of that, and it was one of the films I had profesionally printed, and the results were gorgeous. There's a little grain, but it looks good.
 
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Huge thanks to all !

Huge thanks to all !

It's a heartwarming thrill for me to get all this info. Camera will be here today and I can hardly wait. Thanks again.:D :D
 
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